A National Security Staff for the 21st Century

Abstract

Within the past 2 decades, national security and foreign policy organizations and experts have perceived serious deficiencies in the authorities, organizations, and personnel used to prepare for and conduct the national security missions of the United States. If the nation is to maintain its leadership and influence in the world, it must transform its obsolete national security system to enable better handling of the challenges of the current global ecosystem. This transformation must enable us to establish collaborative, networked, and performance-based management of the national security system. Transformation of our national security system must start at the top, with the National Security Council (NSC) and the National Security Staff (NSS). Although the national security environment has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the United States has not changed the fundamental way it manages our national security system. As a result of this lack of change, the NSS remains focused almost exclusively on policy development, staffing the President, and crisis management rather than the long-term strategic view. A deliberate NSS design based on strategic system management functions, processes, and best practices will foster the necessary whole-of-government practices required for the global security environment of the 21st century, and ensure that the NSS is the strategic system manager for improving the performance, adaptability, and efficiency of the overall national security system. This monograph describes a fully integrated NSS and an interagency management system based on the dual concepts of end-to-end process management at the strategic level and decentralized execution and implementation. The monograph offers an architect's concept for implementing change in the executive branch and the foundations for a strategic partnership with Congress for transforming our national security system to meet the rigors of the 21st century.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA578549

Entities

People

  • Jack A. Lecuyer

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Climate Change
  • Congress
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Foreign Relations
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Knowledge Management
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.